Megan was holding it together remarkably well, but she wasn’t the ice woman she pretended to be. Kyle could see the cracks in her mask. This had left a mark on her, and she was doing her damnedest to hold it together.
“He was waiting for me, too. At the hospital,” Faith said. She leaned forward. “I was walking out to the parking lot, glanced at the van and then he was there.”
“He’s not big enough to overpower you. He has to distract you, surprise you then attack,” Kyle said. Their man liked to lay in wait. He’d planned this. Kyle looked at Roger. “Have you ever looked at reports of women who say they were being robbed, but got away? He’s not a big man. It’s unlikely Faith is the only woman who has ever gotten away from him.”
“I’ll look into it.” Roger jotted down a note on his pad of paper.
“How much have you explored the theory that Megan wasn’t the only target?” Kyle asked.
“We were all targets.” Megan stared at him, her eyes wide.
“What do you mean?” Roger leaned toward her, smelling the proverbial blood.
“He kept talking about how Faith and Bethany were going to join us. He went to get Bethany first, but he came back super angry. Then he kept talking about Faith nonstop.” Megan’s calm was cracking. It was in the way her voice vibrated and how she stared at the table top.
Bethany glanced at him over Faith’s head.
This was what he was afraid of, but at least now they knew.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Go back to the alley. What happened once you were handcuffed?” Roger asked.
“He put something over my face. I blacked out.” Megan frowned.
“Some sort of chemical or drug?” Roger asked.
“No. At least not that I can remember.”
Suffocating the victim could be part of the process. This guy clearly got off on brutalizing women in the worst way. It took a long time to choke someone out like that. It meant being up close, watching the light go out of their eyes. Truly disturbing shit.
“What’s the next thing you do remember?” Roger asked.
“I woke up in the room where they found me.” Megan glanced at Kyle. “I was chained to a bed. At first I thought there was something wrong with my eyes, but then I realized he’d put something over my head.”
“Do you know what it was?”
“A mask. He’s got these crazy masks.” Megan waved her hand at her face. “He made me wear one for most of the time. He’d talk to me, but not to me. Like, he was talking to the mask, calling it Mom. He took the mask off a few times and then he was talking to me, but mostly he talked to the mask.”
“What did he look like? Can you tell me?”
“No.” Megan shuddered. “He wore a mask, too. And there were masks for Faith and Bethany that looked like mine.”
Kyle didn’t like the sound of that at all.
“What did your mask look like?” Kyle glanced at Zain. That might be their break in this.
“It was one of those plastic masks that has a neck. It went down to almost my collar bone.” Megan tapped her chest. “It had short, blonde hair. Kind of like a bob. Um... Red lipstick? I don’t know.”
“That’s great,” Kyle said.
Zain was already tapping away at his phone. If it wasn’t a standard sort of thing, they could possibly track it. But, if the mask was a standard Halloween type of thing they were out of luck.
“Can you remember anything he said to you? Anything about previous murders?” Roger leaned in.
“I don’t know.” Megan squeezed her eyes shut.
“Let’s take a break,” Kyle said.
“What? No.” Roger scowled at him.
“We need to talk. Now.” Kyle pushed to his feet and grabbed Roger’s phone pausing the recording. “Come on.”
He strode to the office, his mind whirling.
They were chasing their tail here. They were asking the wrong questions and wasting time. They needed professionals who knew what the fuck they were doing.
“What the hell?” Roger stalked into the office followed by Zain.
“We need to call the FBI,” Kyle said.
“Like hell we do.” Roger practically bristled.
“Not to take over your case. To consult. What do you know about this guy? Nothing. You’ve said it yourself. She’s as close as you’ve gotten to him and the more she tells us the more convinced I am that we have no fucking clue what we’re looking for except a mask.”
“A fresh pair of eyes on the case couldn’t be a bad thing,” Zain said.
“I don’t need help,” Roger’s head swung back and forth. He couldn’t decide who to glare at more.
“If you don’t think you need help then you’ve already lost him.” Kyle stared right back at Roger. “I don’t care who you are or what you do, the minute you think you can handle it all is when you don’t know shit. And your ego is going to cost some poor girl her life. Again. You want to go to sleep at night knowing that?”
“We have a history of working with the FBI’s BAU division.” Zain’s tone was much more diplomatic. “They would help build a profile at the very least. Their insight might shed new light on your clues.”
“This is my case,” Roger said.
“We’re very aware that you’ve pissed all over it.” Kyle paced to the other side of the room to put distance between them.
The only thing that mattered to Detective Blew was that he got to work this case. It wasn’t the lives attached to it or the three women in there who had so far survived this suspect’s attacks. When it came down to it, Roger cared about himself.
“All we want to do is give you the tools to better solve this and get your guy,” Zain said. It was a good week for him to play the good cop.
“Do you really want Elijah Hunt to get in front of a camera and say you’re the reason this guy didn’t get caught? Or do you finally want to be the guy who caught the killer?” Kyle stared the detective down.
So many red flags.
Suppressing the case from the media.
Showing up without his partner.
No regard for the victims.
“Alright. Fine. Call them.” Roger threw up his hands.
“Excuse me, Shane.” Zain leaned across the desk to the phone.
Shane positioned the receiver at the center of the desk behind the monitors while Zain dialed their direct line to the BAU.
Kyle’s involvement on the last op had been cut short due to his father’s death, otherwise he’d have been on the ground long enough to assist the FBI team in tracking down the man who’d kidnapped Adam’s wife. Instead he’d had a momentary brush before heading home.
“This is Ryan Brooks,” a man said through the speaker.
Zain gave Kyle a nod.
“Ryan. Kyle Martin. Sorry about skipping out on you last week.”
“I completely understand. Thanks again for loaning your team to us. I’m guessing this isn’t a social call?” Ryan sounded just like he looked, professional and to the point.
“No, afraid not. I’m here with Zain, Shane and Detective Roger Blew from Seattle PD. We’ve got a situation that could really use your expertise if you’ve got a minute to spare?” Kyle knew they weren’t guaranteed a yes. The FBI team had their own cases and workload.
“We are currently in the air headed back to DC. I can put you on speaker?” Ryan asked.
“Please.”
“Okay, Jade and Gabe are here with me. The others are asleep.” Ryan’s voice sounded a bit more distant, but still clear.
“Have you ever heard of the Seattle Triple Threat?” Kyle glanced at Roger, who still didn’t seem pleased about the whole thing.
“Unsub who killed in the eighties and nineties,” a woman chimed in. That had to be Jade. “He liked to leave his victims near theaters, stages, concert venues, thus the name.”
“Yeah, well, he never stopped and now we have a client and her roommates who were supposed to be his next victims,” Kyle said.
“I think you need to start at the beginning,” Ryan said slowly.
Kyle launched into his side of the story, how Bethany had come to him for help and how they’d learned about the case. Roger continued to stand by in silence while Kyle shared what Megan and Faith had reported about their separate instances. By the time Kyle was done his throat was dry and his hands were clenched into fists.
There was so much wrong with this case.
“How many deaths can you attribute to this killer?” Ryan asked.
“That's a question for Roger,” Kyle said. He looked across the office to the detective.
“Thirty-six that we know of. The suspect sticks to a routine we can identify. But we have not ruled out the possibility that there are deaths we don't know about.” Roger stared at the floor.
“There are only fifteen on record for this unsub,” Jade said.
“That's because the Seattle City Council voted to suppress ports on these murders. We didn't want the public getting more afraid than they already were.” Roger paced the width of the narrow office.
“We are going to need some time to go over what you said and look at the files before we can weigh in and give you any kind of profile,” Gabe said.
“Understandable,” Kyle said.
“What worries me the most about this is that we are clearly at an evolution point in his process,” Jade said.
“Jade is right,” Gabe said.
“If he is disrupted, that could trigger a spiral and then we don't know what he's going to do,” Jade said.
“Detective Blew, can we get a copy of the case files for the years after two thousand until now?” Ryan asked.
“Of course,” Roger said.
“I can read those as soon as you send them over, and consult with the team first thing in the morning,” Jade said.
“That's almost twenty cases.” Roger threw up his hands.
“If Jade says she'll do it, she'll get it done.” Kyle had not worked with the FBI team much, but he knew Jade Perez by reputation.
“I think that's it for now. I’ll have Jade call you first thing after we've had the chance to review the case. Good luck to you,” Ryan said.
“Thanks for offering your expertise. We really appreciate it,” Kyle said.
Kyle nodded at Shane and the other man hung up the line.
For a moment no one said anything. What was there to say? Roger had made the decision to keep the case all to himself and now their team was involved. Rogers priorities didn't align with their teams.
“Okay, how about I get Roger home and you guys settle in for the night?” Zain glanced at Kyle. “Would you mind if I drove your Jeep home?”
“Not at all.” Kyle dug his keys out of his pocket and threw them at Zain.
Kyle had been so focused on getting the team safe that he had considered what came after. They could be in this house for up to a week. He was going to have to figure out how to keep his distance from Bethany.
13.
SATURDAY. AEGIS GROUP Safe House, Seattle, Washington.
Bethany closed the bedroom door. It didn’t help the tension between her shoulders. Kyle was still under the same roof with her. But he was no longer her focus. Megan was.
“Is he gone?” Faith asked.
“I saw Zain and Roger leaving, but I don’t know if that means they’re gone.” Bethany crossed the room to the side of the bed.
“I never liked that man.” Megan glared at the door. “Dad always called him. I could never stand him.”
“You knew him?” Bethany asked.
“I wish I didn’t. I don’t think he remembered me.” Megan slid down a little farther in the bed.
“How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?” Faith perched on the edge of the bed.
“Shut the fuck up.” Megan glared at Faith. “You’re hovering.”
“It’s only because I care.” Faith smiled at their roommate.
“You’re being too fucking nice. Stop it.”
Faith recoiled, her face creased with lines.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Megan crammed the pillow behind her.
“I just—I’m glad you’re back, is all.” Faith shrugged but her face still looked like she was in pain.
“I think what Faith is trying to say is, we’re glad you’re back and we’re sorry we weren’t there to keep this from happening.” Bethany crossed to the other side of the big bed and sat on the vacant side.
“It’s not your fault this happened.” Megan stared at the comforter. “This is my dad’s fault.”
“Don’t say that. You can’t know who’s at fault here.” Bethany had watched the whole situation unfold, and she wasn’t sure any of them were at fault.
“My dad voted to keep this guy off the news. Without people knowing he was out there, how are they supposed to look for him? This is his fault. If he hadn’t let this guy get away, I would never have been kidnapped. Her house would not of been broken into. Faith would not of been attacked. None of us would be a target. The only reason we are roped into all this is because of my dad.”
“About your dad...” Faith glanced at Bethany. “I’m kind of jealous I didn’t get to meet him. You make him sound like the biggest ass hole on the planet.”
“He is.” Megan didn't seem as though she wanted to entertain the idea of her father being a decent person.
Bethany to know what to think about Megan's dad. Megan's whole family seemed like a complicated mess. But who was Bethany to judge?
“How the hell did you even know who my parents were?” Megan peered at Bethany.
“Oh, you listed them on your emergency contact information when we rented the house. I called our landlord and asked.” Truth was Bethany had her parents listed as her emergency contact as well. Besides the family she could no longer trust, these two women were all she had.
“Remind me to take them off,” Megan said.
“Not to change the subject or anything, but Kyle?” Faith asked.
“Kyle, that’s the one who busted Rogers balls?” Megan asked.
“Yeah, that would be Kyle.” Bethany examined her nails as if they were most fascinating thing of a room.
“Is this the same Kyle you've talked about in the past?” Faith seemed to forget her guilt where Megan was concerned and focused all of her attention on Bethany.
“The one with the shitty dad?” Megan asked.
“I may have mentioned Kyle a few times. And yes, he’d didn’t have the best dad. Mr. Martin passed away last week. When I didn’t know who else to ask for help, I thought Kyle might be able to give me some tips for where to look. I didn’t expect...all this.” Bethany couldn’t deny that Kyle had dropped everything to help her. She didn’t know how to repay him or if that was even possible.
Face leaned toward Megan, a conspiratorial smile on her face. “Bethany has a hickey on her thigh.”
“What?” Megan gaped at Bethany.
Oh shit.
Bethany closed her eyes.
“What’s with that face? I give you a high five if you would look at me.” Megan chuckled.
“It’s not what you think.” Or was it?
“It looked to me like you got laid,” Faith said.
“Yes, but —”
“She got laid hallelujah.” Megan slapped the bed.
“I hate you both right now.” Bethany stared at the wall behind face head, heat crawling up her cheeks. She hadn’t blush this much in years. It was all Kyle's fault.
“Hate me all you want, but I want details.” Faith was way too interested in Bethany's love life for her liking.
“Does this break her no dating rule?” Megan asked.
“Heck no. Kissing and sex is not dating. Besides, he doesn’t really seem like a Bethany’s type.”
“And what exactly is my type?” Bethany glared across the bed at Faith.
“Whoa, easy there. All I meant was that you seem to like nice guys. And not that Kyle isn’t nice, he’s just
not nice guy material. I’m saying this all wrong, but if I had to pick someone for you, he’s not the person I’d pick.”
“I don't know.” One side of Megan's mouth screwed up. “I actually think he might be good for her. Especially without whole protective, do as I say thing he’s got going on.”
“So why are you pissed at him?” Faith asked.
“It’s not important,” Bethany said.
“Well, I don’t want to talk about being kidnapped so that really just leaves us with talking about your love life.” Megan seemed more like her old self without her typical grouchy attitude.
“This isn’t really the time to get into it.” Besides, Bethany didn't know what to think about the conversation they'd had in the car. She thought about it on the drive here, but she still didn't have any answers.
“I think now is the perfect time,” Megan said.
“Me, too.” Faith grinned at Bethany.
“Fine. What you want to know?” She rolled her eyes.
“This morning you were all blushing and glowing around him. Tonight you can barely look at him. What happened?”
Of course they’d pick up on that.
Bethany stared at her hands, examining her nails as she struggled to find the words to put them off the topic.
Except these were her closest friends.
If she was going to talk to anyone about it, she wanted it to be them.
“He said some things... We got talking about last night and I mentioned that I wasn’t supposed to be doing that sort of thing right now. He just threw out this whole thing about how he’s not a kind of guy I should be looking for, and I’m better off without him because he’s going to end up just like his dad. And if he’s going to end up just like his dad, what about me? I mean, most every guy I've dated has been terrible. If I’m going to believe what he says about him, what does that mean about me? Is this whole idea of taking a year to just be me pointless because every man I am attracted to is a bad apple?”
“We’ll that's a bunch of bull shit.” Faith shook her head.
“Oh, hell no.” Megan sat up and jabbed her finger at Bethany. “Who you dated in the past has no more bearing on who you are then who my parents are has on me.”
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